At 5.5 Per Cent, China Lowers GDP Target For 2022 To Lowest In Decades; Hikes Defence Budget To $230 Billion

China on Saturday lowered its GDP target to 5.5 per cent for this year bringing it down from last year's 6.1 per cent.

The GDP target of 5.5 per cent set by Beijing amid the Coronavirus pandemic, property slump and uncertainty due to the Ukraine war is the lowest since 1991.

The new target for the second-largest economy was announced by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in his work report presented to the National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s Parliament which opened its annual session on Saturday.

In 2021, China's economy grew by 8.1 per cent 2021 to about $18 trillion stated to be the best in a decade. The pace of the growth was well above the government target of above six per cent in 2021.

In his work report presented to Parliament, Li said China plans to create more than 11 million new jobs in 2022.

China plans to cut the ratio of its deficit to GDP to around 2.8 percent for the year of 2022. Further, Beijing also plans to promote the belt-and-road initiative.

The fundamentals of China's economy remain unchanged, and they will maintain long-term growth, he said.

Over 2,800 members attended Parliament which will meet in Beijing for over a week to transact the annual legislative work.

The annual parliament session is a week of highly choreographed meetings that lays out the party's political priorities, economic expectations, and foreign policy goals, and this edition comes in a year in which President Xi Jinping intends to further cement his grip on power.

The Chinese government has proposed the defence budget for the fiscal year 2022 at 1.45 trillion yuan (USD 230 billion), a 7.1 per cent year on year increase, state-run China Daily reported quoting the draft budget proposals presented by Premier Li Keqiang to the National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s parliament on Saturday.

The hike is over three times that of India’s defence budget of 5.25 lakh crore (about USD 70 billion) for 2022.

Last year, China’s defence spending for the first time crossed $200 billion.

In 2021, the defence budget grew by 6.8 per cent to $209 billion.

In his work report presented to China’s Parliament, Chinese Premier Li called for “deepening comprehensive combat readiness” from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

He said the PLA needs to “carry out military struggles in a resolute and flexible manner” to defend the country’s sovereignty, security and development interests.

China’s increase in this year’s defence budget came amid the standoff at eastern Ladakh and its increasing political and military tensions with the US.

China has the world's second-largest defence budget after the US.

(With inputs from PTI)